SHA Small Heath Alliance

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We should be trying to be the Newcastle of the Championship.

As long as we don’t employ their dreadful shithousery as a game management style that’s fine.

QBBC2

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We should be trying to be the Newcastle of the Championship.

As long as we don’t employ their dreadful shithousery as a game management style that’s fine.

Agreed. I don't like them as a team but what they've achieved has been impressive.

QBBC2

I actually didn’t think we were doing too bad a job playing out prior to the change of manager. It may not have been text book but we certainly havn’t gone from a kick and rush team to a passing team overnight. The difference isn’t as great as some might think from what I’ve watched, which is all bar a couple of games.

From what I remember we started to introduce it using one basic pattern that would be employed for the first 15 minutes along with a high press, then we reverted to sitting deeper and playing it long.
I was pleased to see it introduced and thought we looked good while we did it and was always frustrated when we sat back. Maybe that was JE’s way of introducing it - do it for 15 - 20 minutes lads, then go back to what you know? Maybe the board were frustrated at his insistence on not pushing it too far too soon? Obviously these are “maybe’s” but if they’re close to the truth then JE was right and knew the players well enough. None of it would surprise me and it makes the Rooney appointment even more interesting.

The anti-Rooney’s will obviously seize on fact that JE was right, the board effed up and Rooney is obviously a worse coach than JE and hasn’t bothered to learn the way John did. All very valid points. Despite my belief in, and backing of, Rooney that’s pretty undeniable IF it’s more than a maybe.

What it would reinforce is the views posted on here that Rooney was basically set up to fail. Even if he recognises that the players aren’t ready to play front foot possession based football he can’t not try it because the board sacked the last bloke who refused. So Rooney has to go for it. Drill the players until they get it. Take the losses and the criticism until it clicks and hopefully win the fans back when it does.

That doesn’t make Rooney a worse coach, it makes him a coach with a remit that can’t be fulfilled quickly given the players we’ve got. He underestimated just how basic some of our players are and/or overestimated how quickly even international level coaches can coach this in to them. JE was an international coach as well, but he at least had time to find out before it was thrust on him as the club ethos.

All hypothetical, all ifs buts and maybes, obviously. I’ve said before I trust Rooney to come good and I stick by that. If he does then it means we get closer to where we want to be quicker than we would have under JE and have the Rooney revenue factor on top, which improves the squad, which gets us closer to… etc. Biiiig chuffing if as of now but turbo charges the season/next season if it pays off. The board have gambled and will need a pay off, with or without Rooney but even if he fails they’re here for the long haul. ATM it looks like a mistake but IF it pays off it sets us up for a proper tilt next season which is what they promised.

So: he’s here, we’re there and things will, eventually, get better. Until then buckle up. It’s a long long road and it’s a bumpy uphill struggle. Again.

KRO kids, you sing it but you’ve got to mean it.

What an excellent post👏👏👏

Actually bores the pants off me play football but get the ball forward quicker dont score goals in your own half then play your football with your forwards easy aint it LOL.

That's a very good post with much food for thought. What if one of those maybes is true and Rooney has been set up to fail? What does it tell us about the owners and how should fans adjust their opinion accordingly? Why should fans trust them not to make similarly sized errors in future?

If what Rags says is correct (in their also very good post) and they 'want it now' how short-sighted is that? Some thorough research and conversations with world class professional people involved in championship/premier league football (IE due diligence) would have made sure they knew that they were setting him up to fail, so how come they didn't realise? Eus.tace's slow and steady method could have won the race against Rooney for a lot less money and backlash.

That's a very good post with much food for thought. What if one of those maybes is true and Rooney has been set up to fail? What does it tell us about the owners and how should fans adjust their opinion accordingly? Why should fans trust them not to make similarly sized errors in future?

If what Rags says is correct (in their also very good post) and they 'want it now' how short-sighted is that? Some thorough research and conversations with world class professional people involved in championship/premier league football (IE due diligence) would have made sure they knew that they were setting him up to fail, so how come they didn't realise? Eus.tace's slow and steady method could have won the race against Rooney for a lot less money and backlash.

Valid but a little too dark for my tastes tbh. I’d prefer to believe they’d more likely (this is all hypothetical, innit) set him up to fail inadvertently because they didn’t believe JE that it couldn’t be done. In that case you could argue that it’s a case of them knowing football but not “knowing” football, which is ironic as it’s the same view many of our fans had of JE before he was sacked.

And I’ll pre-empt those who will say “but the fans who wanted him sacked wouldn’t have replaced him with Rooney” by saying that’s because they don’t have the owners vision, strategy or contacts book and any manager or coaching dream team they would have chosen is just that, a dream.